Random set of the day: Tow Truck and Car
Posted by Huwbot,Today's random set is 642 Tow Truck and Car, released during 1978. It's one of 35 Town sets produced that year. It contains 44 pieces.
It's owned by 993 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
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45 comments on this article
Okay, are these two cars even in the same scale? They're technically 4-wides, but the windscreen and slope are throwing the whole perspective off.
Which 1978 debut aged worse: this set or Star Wars Holiday Special?
Figless cars! I kind of wonder, when LEGO was first releasing minifigs at this time, if they realized that minifigs we're going to come to dominate their product. Obviously, exceptions remain down to the present (Technic, sculptures, micro-scale...), but we talk of a lot of it as constructed with minifigures and their scale as the norm.
All of which is to say... this set has no minifigs and is kind of boring. It's not bad, but be there's only so much to say about a straightforward build using 44 pieces available in 1978.
@Harmonious_Building said:
"Which 1978 debut aged worse: this set or Star Wars Holiday Special? "
Jaws 2?
@MCLegoboy:
The roller skate on the left is a hi-top, and the one on the right sits below the anklebone. It doesn’t look like they’re made with the same brand of shoe, so I would highly advise not trying to wear these as a pair.
The fenders on the truck are different in both colour and shape. And the car has a Technic pin out the back? Is that supposed to be a muffler?
@MeisterDad:
Uh, Hot Wheels Caterham with a bottle rocket shoved in the back end?
So...uh... How about we talk about this cool Lego set from 1978? That's what I came here for. I didn't come into the comments to talk about some horrific event from 2001.
But the Lego set is indeed awesome! I still have that grill piece from some random Lego I got 10 or so years ago.
The car being towed appears to be a classic one-seater sport coupe with running boards; maybe it’s supposed to be an old race car, judging from that huge tail pipe jutting out from the tapered rear-end.
It’s a nice little classic LEGO set.
@PDelahanty said:
"So...uh... How about we talk about this cool Lego set from 1978? That's what I came here for. I didn't come into the comments to talk about some horrific event from 2001."
Seems like the commets are on topic to me.......
@Formendacil said:
"Figless cars! I kind of wonder, when LEGO was first releasing minifigs at this time, if they realized that minifigs we're going to come to dominate their product. Obviously, exceptions remain down to the present (Technic, sculptures, micro-scale...), but we talk of a lot of it as constructed with minifigures and their scale as the norm.
All of which is to say... this set has no minifigs and is kind of boring. It's not bad, but be there's only so much to say about a straightforward build using 44 pieces available in 1978."
There seems to have been a disconnect at the time (and for years afterwards) between LEGO’s sales & marketing teams on the one hand and its product development and strategy functions on the other. The former realised that it had a hit with minifigures and was putting them front and centre, while the latter were still thinking of LEGO as primarily a construction toy.
Interesting...
That is a tow truck and a car.
Anyone remember the RSoTD for “My Dad”? https://brickset.com/article/57248
I own this one and seeing it is from 1978 just makes me feel old. Funny enough I can't remember really playing with it.
I believe I had this, aged 1. Certainly the individual pieces are *very* familiar, but the box must have gone astray very quickly because the build isn't familiar at all. It does explain why I had seemingly random mudguards, or why I had a propeller bracket and but no propeller.
I agree, any Classic Town set from 1978 onwards without a Minifig seem a little lacking... However if seen as an add on to 377 along with 371, 301 and 304 all released in 1978 then is makes a lot more sense.
I would LOVE to see a 2022 version of this in 6-wide.
I loved it as a kid, just being a sucker for Lego trucks.
@Rusticjohn said:
"I agree, any Classic Town set from 1978 onwards without a Minifig seem a little lacking... However if seen as an add on to 377 along with 371, 301 and 304 all released in 1978 then is makes a lot more sense. "
I got this set and set 377 (Shell Service Station) for Christmas 1978 and it didn’t bother me at all that the Minifigs couldn’t get into the vehicles.
Vehicles were the same design as they had been for years, and these cool new people just hung out around them.
It’s only when you look on it with modern eyes that it seems weird.
Not bad, but not a patch on the Legoland themed miniwheel vehicles that went before.
Just a shame that Huwbot's dodgy memory chips have erased that era!
This set - and its siblings - was all about price. Restricting the vehicles to 4 wide, and with fewer details, kept them within the pocket money price range. This was crucial in order to compete with the small die cast metal cars of the time. As 1978 rolled into 1979 and then 1980 these sets gradually morphed into the vehicle-plus-figure combinations we’ve come to expect as minfigures began their inexorable journey to world domination.
I vividly remember buying this set whilst on a visit to friends in North Wales. The boxes had a small hanger at the top built into the cardboard so they hung from the rack in the shelving in the toy shop. The boxes were so small yet it felt so cool to turn one over in your hands - the models felt like the start of something new and a turn away from the slightly staid town vehicles that came before. The minifigure was key to that; the cover of the catalogue showing LEGO on the March summed up the mood perfectly.
Ooh, self-driving cars in 1978, how very forward thinking
@sjr60 said:
"
Not bad, but not a patch on the Legoland themed miniwheel vehicles that went before.
Just a shame that Huwbot's dodgy memory chips have erased that era!"
Absolutely! There are many wonderful sets before 1978. Maybe Huw could consider pushing the date back for RSotD to include them...?
I think it's sorta funny that both vehicles end with a piece Lego hasn't made in years.
One of three minifigure-less Town sets from 1978. The others were 626-2 and 622-1.
Oh yeah, @huw I've noticed there haven't been as many staff reviews recently, any particular reason for that?
A few of the later comments puts sets like this in perspective. This was a set prices, more or less, for a kid on an allowance, someone who didn’t really consider intricate detail important. And figure that a 5- or 6- or 7-year-old kid may have thought this was the most awesome set in the world and saw tremendous play value.
Today’s sets have, of course, far outstripped this model and even the 7-year-old kid expects much more. But in its time, sets like this tow truck worked and represented what the Lego of 1978 was .
@Isabella_and_Lego_Liker:
There were about half a dozen additional posts above my first when I went to bed last night, but they’ve clearly been pruned.
@Zander:
That’s actually appropriate, considering how many AFOLs are still enamored of filling their towns with soap-box derby racers.
@Minifig_Jez:
@CCC:
My brother and I each got one Homemaker set as our first sets, then one plank minifig set each (each of which came with vehicles like these), and then started getting proper minifig-based sets. As soon as we got articulated minifigs, the plank minifig vehicles were permanently relegated to the parts bin, never to be built again. In fact, the few examples we had of the windshield used on the two truck were also never used again, except as a rear window, because the enclosed back made them incompatible with minifigs. For the rest of my life, I can’t recall ever making a single minifig-scale car that couldn’t seat at least one minifig until I started making 6-wide Pixar Cars cars.
One of my first sets. Weird thing without minifigs, but still a nice addition to my 70ies town.
@MudkipDoom said:
"Oh yeah, @huw I've noticed there haven't been as many staff reviews recently, any particular reason for that?"
I believe it’s because we’re in a bit of a slow period for new releases at the moment. August and September are big months for LEGO releases, but October and November usually have only a few D2Cs and the Winter Village set. The major LEGO release months are January and August, and sometimes March or June.
@PurpleDave said:
"As soon as we got articulated minifigs, the plank minifig vehicles were permanently relegated to the parts bin, never to be built again. "
Well, each to their own, differmt people is what makes the world so interesting,.. I don’t think I ever stopped playing with the inaccessible vehicles or un-articulated minifigs as a kid, and now their all on display in the Lego room!
@Harmonious_Building said:
"Which 1978 debut aged worse: this set or Star Wars Holiday Special? "
Me! ;-)
OT: even when sets like this were a few years before my time, I do quite like them. Simple builds with only few pieces, but high play value and endless opportunities for alternate builds. Modern sets obviously look a lot better (they should, as this would nowadays be a 200 piece set) but I wonder if that actually makes them better toys.
Octan truck!
I feel like that Shell branded tow truck could be rebuilt into a McDonalds product with very little effort.
@WizardOfOss said:
"Modern sets obviously look a lot better (they should, as this would nowadays be a 200 piece set) but I wonder if that actually makes them better toys."
New sets are certainly a lot better display pieces, but for play value the time when Lego was 10% bricks and 90% imagination wins hands down!
@Isabella_and_Lego_Liker said:
"Seems like the commets are on topic to me......."
Around 30 minutes after upload there were ten or so somewhat political posts in a back and forth rant. Looks like Huw got rid of 'em
@MeisterDad said:
"The fenders on the truck are different in both colour and shape. And the car has a Technic pin out the back? Is that supposed to be a muffler?"
a representation of a jet turbine car?
@MeisterDad said:
"The fenders on the truck are different in both colour and shape. And the car has a Technic pin out the back? Is that supposed to be a muffler?"
That isn't so weird, is it? Real trucks usually have the front fenders integrated in the cabin design, while on the back it's just simple mud guards bolted onto the chassis. Quite realistic, I'd say.
That thing on the back of the car though.....maybe an attempt at a boattail?
@Isabella_and_Lego_Liker said:
" @PDelahanty said:
"So...uh... How about we talk about this cool Lego set from 1978? That's what I came here for. I didn't come into the comments to talk about some horrific event from 2001."
Seems like the commets are on topic to me......."
You missed A LOT of off-topic comments that have since been removed.
These kinds of vehicles were among the first LEGO sets I ever got. Nostalgia overload.
Sure, the scale is totally bananas between the two, but aren't they cute? I see these and immediately had to go "aww" with eyes getting a little misty.
These sets, while crude by today’s standards, show what Lego was able to do back in the day with a much more limited brick selection and helps showcase the brilliance of Lego.
Hmmm...this continues off my comments about the 'Coast Guard Platform' (Canadian Edition 'Eh...:)); that 'this year' (er, 'this time period'...um, the late-mid 70's) was the 'feeling out' period for Lego. This is the same time-period that gave us Space and Castle, as well as the fledgling 'City' (which evolved out of 'Town')...and @PurpleDave; you brought up Hot Wheels, which is ironic as: a little part of me viewed these 'figless' vehicles as Lego's answer to HW (which is also funny: Lego were making die-cast cars, just before they transitioned to interlocking brick sets...which were being used for the die-casts' garages).
@MeisterDad, that's not a Technics pin; it's 'Ye Ole' connector piece for props and propellers, it was attached to a plate at a 90 degree angle (look up part number 3481).
@PurpleDave said:
" @MCLegoboy:
The roller skate on the left is a hi-top, and the one on the right sits below the anklebone. It doesn’t look like they’re made with the same brand of shoe, so I would highly advise not trying to wear these as a pair."
I just love how your mind works PurpleDave >.<
@brick_r:
I’m not entirely sure how it happened (most likely a garage sale buy, or an old collection being donated to our family by a friend or relative), but we actually ended up with one of those clear garage elements in our childhood collection. I don’t know if we got a car with it. Back in the day, you couldn’t look that info up online, and while we knew the garage would fit some die-cast cars, and certainly looked like it was intended to be a garage (and had LEGO logos on the studs), we never really thought about checking the die-cast stuff for matching logos (and any LEGO die-cast cars may have been bundled with a Hot Wheels collection that headed off to another home). Frankly, the hollow-body stuff like they produced was less desirable, so they often represented the junkyard, or got lined up for monster trucks to drive over, or some other form of set dressing that more involved playing around than with them.
Now, Tiny Turbos seems clearly aimed at horning in on Hot Wheels’ market share, but this era may have been more about die-cast designers being forced to adapt to a new product format. I doubt they would have been terminated by the family when Ole Kirk decided to focus exclusively on a product they had no experience with, which would certainly explain why this era of sets looks like a blend of two unrelated product lines.
As for part No 3481, it’s still based on the same geometry as Technic pins, right? Obviously it’s not long enough to clip into a full-width brick or beam, and I can’t tell if it’s short enough to properly lock into a half-width beam, but it does appear to be the same diameter with a similar flanged tip.
@dutchbrickdad:
One of the few completely stock sets I’m willing to personally put on our club layouts is 3177. I built a 6-wide version of a Smart Car, with the same color scheme, put the 3177 driver in the front seat, and mounted 3177 over the rear bumper like a bicycle. The driver’s smiling, so I can only assume he’s thrilled with the upgrade.